A FOUNDER of a company called UDA which sells energy drinks promising longer life said he and colleagues had never heard of the loyalist paramilitary group before launching the business.
Avi Roy, based in Oxford, England, said it wished it had known about the existence of the organisation responsible for hundreds of killings before spending tens of thousands of pounds securing the domain name uda.com.
The outlay means the company cannot change the name as it rolls out across the globe from its beginnings selling a coffee product in the UK, he said.
However, Mr Roy added that it may change the name if shipping to customers in Ireland in the future.
The mission statement of the UDA, which stands for 'united to defeat aging', is to make “healthy longevity” available to all.
“We’re doing this by making longevity as easy as buying an energy drink. Each UDA can is infused with ingredients which target the core pathways of ageing,” it says.
UDA began selling instant coffee and last week launched a berry-flavoured drink. It only sells in the UK and online.
“No, no of course not,” Mr Roy said, when asked whether he and colleagues knew of the paramilitary organisation of the same name ahead of launch.
“I wish we had but did not know this at all. It was only after we launched that some on Twitter started pointing that out and we had to say we had nothing to do with a terrorist or paramilitary organisation.”
Most of the comments, largely from people in Northern Ireland, leaned towards humorous and people understood or were a little bit confused, Mr Roy said.
The businessman, originally from India, said most of his team are not UK-based, with only one born and raised in the country.
He was taken aback when told by The Irish News that the UDA, with its offshoot the UFF, was responsible for approximately 400 murders.
“We talked about this internally but had a problem as we had the domain name and already spent the money,” he said.
Mr Roy said the cost was substantial – “more than buying a house” – because short, snappy, available names that work globally are extremely expensive.
“Our ambition that we are working towards always is to be available in India, China, in the US, Japan,” he said.
The company has introduced defensive advertising aimed at fighting online any potentially damaging effect on the product because of the name.
A survey was also conducted to assess potential negativity associated with the acronym. It revealed definite negativity in Northern Ireland but not necessarily in Kenya, the home of a party with the same initials.
The scientist was surprised when told UDA, the loyalist group, dominated the early pages in any Google search result.
Mr Roy admitted to some naivety when it comes to branding and marketing.
“In the beginning, every person involved was a scientist and we are all so excited about building the science,” he said.
“We are not yet good at that branding and positioning and should have done much more through research.
“It was never our intention to hurt the feelings of any community. We might not have UDA in Ireland and Northern Ireland. We might have a different name.”